Yep, anyone who didn’t believe the SCOTUS ruling this was to
be the beginning of a long slide toward a further diminishment of the treatment
of women in the US was either not paying attention or really took a simplistic
view of the nature and scope of the ruling. I understand the need to protect
one’s deeply held beliefs (even when those beliefs are demonstrably wrong – or at
least contradict that of the VAST majority of those who actually have informed
opinions on the matter. The problem is when that right is taken to the extreme
and is exorcised to the exclusion of the rights of others.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court instructed the lower courts to
reconsider cases that had been ruled on that rejected any religion-based
objection to ANY form of birth control. The unbelievably antediluvian
thought process behind Monday’s ruling can almost be excused for the right has
had a number of successes in making people believe that some forms of birth
control are tantamount to abortion. But what I cannot fathom is why the
political right seems to believe that it has any say in what choices a woman
makes about her own personal healthcare.
I have heard over and over from the right the degradation of
women who only want birth control because they are “sluts” or “whores” which
comes from the likes of the Limbaughs and Santorums of the world. The problem
is that people that I know – and otherwise respect – have similar views. Just
the other day, someone that I know, respect, and care deeply about would make essentially
the same comment.
The right objects to paying for ANY form of birth control
now? Presumably on the basis that only sluts need it? Where is the outcry over
paying for erectile dysfunction meds? At least birth control has some
meaningful health benefits! You object to paying for birth control on the basis
that sluts should pay for their own fun?
Let me introduce you to one of those sluts.
In the sixties, well before 80% of the Catholic women in America
decided to simply ignore the church teachings about only abstention and “natural
birth control” this particular slut had a miscarriage after delivering a
severely breach baby. She and her husband tried desperately to practice the
methods of “Natural Birth Control” that the church taught and they were
rewarded with the birth of their fourth child. (Also bearing some pretty
serious complications.)
But as you can probably imagine – this slut was not going to
let a little thing like her doctor’s warning that another pregnancy would
likely kill her keep her from having her ‘fun!’ What a trollop. It was only
after her parish priest-confessor who knew her well urged her to go on birth
control that she finally did.
The person who made that comment to me the other day knows
this story (or at least part of it) and should know who I am talking about by
now – if not, let me just say, I am glad that this particular slut had the
right to use birth control pills her doctor prescribed. Had she kept doing
things the way the Catholic Church wanted her to, my baby bother and I may never have had the
chance to know our mother.
I think that anyone who makes such rash generalizations
about women and their healthcare needs to think more thoroughly about what they
are saying. That kind of statement comes off as callous as Scrooge’s
pronouncements about “the surplus population.” I know that, in this one case, the
person in question could not have meant it that way. I am sure that if they
ever read this (I would – could – NEVER bring it up to them in person) I hope
that they will understand how deeply such a sweeping generalization about the
sluts who want someone else to pay for their birth control can hurt if
carelessly applied to someone whose situation is one of need and not one of
convenience. I think that people who say such things should stop and consider
just who those Sluts and Whores that they so cavalierly speak of might be.
Wherever you are today, I hope that you will think before
you speak.
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